In such conduit or cable drag, or guide chains of the prior art, as for example described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,432; and German patent publications, Nos. 4,225,016; 3,408,912; and 3,516,448, the crosspieces are provided that have at their free ends resilient engaging means which can be brought into receptacles in the side plates, and can be resiliently engaged therewith. These receptacles in the side plates are at least partly open at their top or bottom, so that the ends of the crosspieces can be thrust or pushed into the receptacles from above. The receptacles, open at the top or the bottom, do in fact simplify connection of the crosspiece to the side plates, but regularly lead to a situation in which upon placing a load on the crosspiece, the side plates can become damaged in the region of the cover-side of the receptacle and break or become released from the plates. A certain amount of relief can be provided against this by providing the side plates with a greater wall thickness in the receiving area, however this is not advantageous for injection molding. In addition, this measure involves a higher cost for materials.
There are further conduit chain links or elements disclosed in German patent publication No. 3,531,066 and in European patent No. 308,958 wherein the plates have projections aligned towards one another and into the interior space of the conduit chain, and which can be connected with corresponding recesses in the crosspieces. Finally, German patent publication No. 3,812,559 shows a conduit chain, the plates of which have bores into which rod-shaped webs can be thrust and are held in position by screws. This way a high degree of stability of the conduit chain link is achieved and any breaking-out of the plate receptacle is practically avoided. This is however achieved at the expense of additional construction cost and of further components, and this is undesirable.